It List: Thursday

Spiritualized/Grand Ole Party (Lakewood Theater): When it comes to Spacemen 3, I've always been more of a Sonic Boom kinda guy, and after interviewing the man himself last year, I was left with sort of a mixed impression of both Sonic AND Jason Pierce on a personal level-- the constant fighting and he said he said stuff between the two of them was sort of a turn off in a sense, although it made for an entertaining read to say the least. Through Spiritualized, Pierce has certainly emerged as the more commercially successful former member of Spacemen 3, and although I would argue that his career has been less consistent, challenging and interesting than Sonic's, it is hard to deny that when Pierce has one of his moments, his music can be purely electrifying. Take the title track to his classic 1997 album Ladies and Gentleman We are Floating in Space for instance-- I'm pretty sure that nothing in Sonic Boom's solo catalogue has had the immediate emotional impact that the aforementioned song had on me the first time I heard it, and this is just one small example of how the relative accessibility of Pierce's material has worked in his favor time and time again. Lakewood Theater is an interesting choice for this show, and I've certainly never seen a concert there that packed the kind of volume this show is sure to. I wonder what is going to happen? Stuff starts REALLY early over there, so plan accordingly.

Hot Chip/Drums of Death (Palladium Ballroom): Another early start (website says that the show begins at 730... can't a guy squeeze in a nap around here?) at Palladium for what will surely be a show worth seeing. I've enjoyed each and every one of Hot Chip's three full lengths a great deal, but they seem to get better each time. The band's latest, Made in the Dark, is easily their best, and the album's first single, "Ready for the Floor," is arguably the catchiest in a long line of very catchy singles from a band that takes bits and pieces of things like disco, punk, funk, soul and synth pop to create a sound that has produced so many inferior sound-a-like bands over the years that it probably deserves its own genre. This is fun dance pop written and performed by people who actually have a better record collection than you do, so here's to hoping that some of the kids out there will learn a thing or two tonight between smoke breaks.

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien/Bukue One/Tee Double/Headkrack (Granada)

80's Night with DJ G (Hailey's)